Louisiana's Industrial Employment Jumped 2.9% over Past
Year

EVANSTON, IL--July 15, 2013: Manufacturers' News, Inc./-- For the
second year in a row, industrial
employment in Louisiana posted a gain, according to the 2013
Louisiana
Manufacturers Register, an industrial
directory published annually by Manufacturers'
News, Inc. (MNI) Evanston, IL. MNI reports Louisiana gained 5,685
manufacturing jobs from May 2012 to May 2013, or 2.9% - - more than
double the gain MNI reported for the 2011-2012 survey period, and two
percentage points above the national average gain as reported by the
Labor Department.

“The state's abundant natural resources
and friendly business environment continue to result in many
companies
investing in its industrial sector, particularly those in the oil &
gas
and chemicals industries.”

Manufacturers' News reports Louisiana is now home to
5,264 manufacturers
employing 196,432 workers.

"Louisiana's industrial climate continues
to improve," says Tom Dubin,
President of the Evanston, IL-based publishing company, which has
been
surveying industry since 1912. "The
state's abundant natural resources
and friendly business environment continue to result in many
companies
investing in its industrial sector, particularly those in the oil &
gas
and chemicals industries."

According to MNI, employment in oil & gas extraction rose 17.2% in
Louisiana over the survey period, with the third-ranking sector
currently accounting for 22,824 of the state's
industrial jobs. Oil and
gas companies that have announced plans to locate facilities in
Louisiana included South Africa-based Sasol, which will open a
natural
gas to diesel plant in Westlake; and Methanex, which recently
announced
it would open a second ethanol plant in Geismar.

MNI reports employment in Louisiana's chemicals sector
increased 1.4%,
and currently ranks first in the state for industrial employment at
25,296 jobs. Bright spots for the chemicals industry included Dyno
Nobel's plans to build an ammonia plant in Jefferson
Parish; the
expansion of Nalco's dry polymer plant in Garyville;
the expansion of
two ExxonMobil chemical plants in Baton Rouge and Port Allen; and the
recent opening of Myriant's biochemical production
facility in Lake
Providence.

Other sectors to gain jobs included transportation equipment, up 7.8%
and industrial machinery & equipment, up 5.2%. Fabricated metals,
primary metals, and instruments/related products were each up 2.8%,
while textiles/apparel rose 2.5%. Losses were seen in electronics,
down
12.5%; printing/publishing, down 5.4%; furniture/fixtures, down 2.6%;
paper products, down 2.2%; and stone/clay/glass, down 1.1%.

Industrial locations closing down included PepsiCo's
bottling plant in
St. John the Baptist Parish; International Paper's
container plant in
Minden; and Hostess-operated Cotton Brothers Bakery in Alexandria.

Gains were spread out across all regions of the state, according to
MNI.
Southeast Louisiana accounts for the most industrial employment in
the
state with 99,543 jobs, up 2% over the past twelve months. Southwest
Louisiana accounts for 57,231 jobs, up 6.8%, while the Northwest
region
accounts for 28,743 jobs, up a half percent. The Northeast region is
home to 10,915 industrial workers, up 1.8%.

MNI's city data shows Baton Rouge remains
Louisiana's top city for
manufacturing employment, with 15,654 industrial jobs, virtually
unchanged over the survey period. Second-ranked Houma accounts for
10,248 jobs, up 13%, while industrial employment in Shreveport
increased
2.1% over the year, and is currently home to 10,245 jobs. Lafayette
accounts for 9,624 jobs, up 7.1%, while New Orleans is home to 9,159
jobs, up 1.7%.

Detailed profiles of Louisiana's 5,264 manufacturing
companies and 1,166
distributors can be found in the 2013 Louisiana Manufacturers
Register
available in print for $111, or available online through
MNI's industrial
database subscription service EZSelect.com. Users may generate
custom profiles of manufacturers using a variety of criteria,
including
region, SIC, sales volume, number of employees, and more. Each
business
profile provides up to 30 facts, including vital contact information,
19,367 executives by name and title, product(s) manufactured, and
more.

Manufacturers' News, Inc. is the nation's
oldest and largest publisher
of state industrial directories and manufacturers databases. For 101
years the company has identified, researched and profiled
manufacturing
companies. MNI employs an 85-person editorial staff to scour business
registrations, trade journals, financial reports, and many other
sources
to pinpoint every manufacturing establishment in the U.S. Each
manufacturer is contacted throughout the year to update their
profiles,
including their employee counts. For more information, contact
Manufacturers' News, Inc., 1633 Central St., Evanston,
IL, 60201,
847-864-7000, Manufacturers News .